by Zina Abbott
“Yes.” Bennett leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth. “I wish to be able to take your hair down. It’s beautiful, Delly. I like looking at it loose like this.”
Delphinia sighed in resignation. “I will agree to that—conditionally. If there are people anywhere in the area, then no. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes.”
Bennett pulled her close to him as he once again kissed her fully on the lips. He felt a deep sense of contentment coupled with longing as she eagerly join him in the kiss. He slid his lips to her ear and whispered. “I enjoy kissing you, Delly. Can we make it a condition that when we are on our fishing trips, we will kiss like this?”
Bennett felt Delphinia’s body still, then stiffen. She pulled away and sat up straight as she stared at the sun now preparing to sink behind the mountains to the west. It would soon be dark, but it was still light enough for Bennett to see the expression of concern on her face. He dropped his arms, letting his hands rest next to her body, but making no effort to pull her towards him against her will. He knew he had said something wrong. “I’m sorry, Delly. I know I said something to offend you, but I don’t know what. I thought you enjoyed our kissing, or I never would have said what I did.”
Still Delphinia stared in front of her, her focus on the thoughts in her mind rather than the world around her. She looked down and fidgeted her fingers, only to still them, before she looked forward again.
“Please tell me what I said wrong, Delly. I want to apologize. I want to make it right, but I don’t know what I said wrong.”
Several more seconds passed. “Do you keep a mistress, Mr. Nighy?”
Delphinia’s question stunned Bennett. He leaned away from her shaking his head in disbelief. “No, I don’t keep a mistress. Why do you ask?”
Delphinia continued without actually answering his question. “I would understand if you chose to, Mr. Nighty, especially since we have been discussing a marriage of convenience where there is no personal benefit for you of an intimate nature. However, Jubilee Springs is so small, I would prefer if you did, that she lives somewhere else, someplace bigger where you wouldn’t be known and…where people wouldn’t know me.” Delphinia turned to face him, the pain on her face easy to read. “I don’t know if you visit the bordello on the other side of the river, but if you do now, I would ask that you don’t go there anymore should we enter into this agreement. Word would get around and I…I don’t wish people to know my husband…”
Bennett took her face between his hands. “Delly, stop. Look at me.” He waited until her eyes met his. “He has a mistress, doesn’t he? This man your parents insist you to marry keeps a mistress, doesn’t he?”
Delphinia closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders. “Yes. He wants to marry me for the money he will receive from my father, and he wants me around for show when it suits his purposes. He wants me to give him a legitimate child or two with the proper blood lines. However, he made it clear he intends to avoid me as much as possible and continue seeing her.”
“Did you tell your father?”
“He must know. That sort of thing is not that uncommon. When I told my mother, her response was it was unfortunate, but at least I would be the wife. I should be content if he at least protects me by keeping his affairs from the knowledge of our peers. However, protecting me from gossip and being pitied by my friends means nothing to him. I found him with her at my favorite luncheon restaurant. He knew I liked dining there. People there know me and they know him. I can never eat there again.”
Delly pulled free of Bennett’s grasp and, once again, stared at nothing in front of her. “As for the terms of our agreement regarding the fishing trips, I will not agree to our kissing being a condition. I refuse to be contractually obligated to allow you to treat me like one of your trollops.”
His head shaking in disbelief, Bennett stared at Delphinia. He sensed the pain she felt, pain his unknowing, thoughtless words dredged to the surface. He didn’t know how to make it go away.
Bennett began to suspect getting to know Delphinia Blakewell was like peeling away the layers of a yellow onion like the one they had eaten for supper. On the outside was a layer or two that was brown, hard, and brittle. They protected the inside of the onion, but were inedible and discarded when it came time to eat the onion. They were like the Delphinia he, and almost everyone else in Jubilee Springs, had seen these past few days.
Oftentimes, the next layer or two may be white, but thin, tasteless and tough. Those layers lacked flavor and a pleasing texture—the Delphinia who helped the Shumakers when they arrived at his store. That toughness remained when she arrived at the harvest dance, but then circumstances, including the confrontation with Mrs. Millard and being discovered by Graham Wardell, began to cut deeper into the layers of the woman who was Delphinia Blakewell.
It was only after peeling away several layers that one reached the part of the onion which, although pungent when cut—the pungency which when raw causes offensive breath—held flavor which, if not always enjoyable when eaten alone, enhanced other foods to which it was added.
Bennett had gone to the dance for the food, but he realized at that moment what he had come away with was a hint of the true Delphinia Blakewell that was under all her layers of protection. This fishing trip revealed to him someone hard to recognize as the same woman whom he had first met in the store. However, he suspected this one was the real Delphinia Blakewell, the woman she would have been if she had not been required by her parents to live up to the expectations of her society.
Bennett knew he was close to seeing the real Delphinia, what really mattered to her. Like an onion that sends up from its center its stalk to bloom and grow, she had allowed him a glimpse of her heart, the place buried deep inside her from which she would grow and become who she truly was meant to be if allowed. Her parents had not seen it, or if they had, they had ignored it in favor of society’s expectations. Neither had the man they wished for her to marry seen the real Delphinia. He only cared about his own interests. For some reason, circumstances of the past few days and her willingness to trust him had allowed him to see it.
“Listen to me, Delly. I do not have a mistress. I have never had a mistress, nor do I ever intend to have one. I don’t visit the bordello, locally or anywhere else. If you were to become my wife, whether part of a marriage of convenience or not, I would never do anything of that nature to degrade you or cause you embarrassment. I never want you to feel I am treating you like a trollop. Do you believe me?”
After seconds of silence, Bennett pulled Delphinia close to him once more, burying his fingers in her hair as he spoke quietly in her ear. “I am happy to take you fishing, Delly, but I never want you to feel you are obligated to kiss me. I only want to kiss you if you allow it, and I only expect you to kiss me if you wish to. We won’t include anything about kissing in the agreement. Will you feel comfortable with that?”
Bennett felt rather than saw her nod.
“I enjoyed kissing you, Ben. It’s just…”
Bennett brushed her cheek with his finger. “I know. My guess is it’s been eating away at you for a while. I consider it a privilege you felt you could share it with me. Do you enjoy kissing me enough you would allow me one more kiss? After that, I need to pack up. It’s getting dark and cold. I need to get you home.”
Delphinia turned to Bennett to share one more kiss. The two then went about cleaning up, Bennett lit the lantern and set it off to the side to attract the bugs away from them. He scraped the pan and put the used plates and utensils in his sack. Delphinia shook out and folded the blanket, which Bennett took from her and tied in the rope. He lifted her shawl over her hair and put her coat over both to hide her loose hair from anyone they might pass by on his way returning her to the boarding house. Carrying out all they had brought with them, they walked in silence.
Bennett could not shake the anger he felt knowing the man who had planned to marry Delphinia not only kept a mistress, but he had rub
bed her face in it. If he could somehow place himself in New York in a blink of an eye and locate him, he would sorely be tempted to choke the life out of one Andrew Sopworth. But, he could not transport himself to New York in a blink of an eye. He could avenge the woman walking next to him another way.
Except he didn’t really want vengeance; he just wanted Delphinia Blakewell.
“Delly, I have decided I wish to marry you.”
Delphinia stopped and turned to face him, studying his face in the limited light cast by the lantern. “Are you sure? We haven’t finished discussing and agreeing to terms.”
“I’m sure. I trust we’ll work out something that will benefit both of us. I’ll contact Pastor Alwin first thing in the morning.”
“And you’ll see if we can schedule it for before the train arrives?”
“Yes, I’ll try to schedule it for before the train arrives.” Bennett set the lantern down and caressed Delphinia’s jaw. “Delly, even if the wedding takes place after the train arrives, I’ll still protect you and not allow anyone to take you. You know that, don’t you?”
At Delphinia’s nod, Bennett picked up the lantern once more and they resumed walking.
“Please tell the pastor we want to keep it simple. I only want our witnesses and maybe a few people I’ve met, like the Howards, to be invited. I’ll have my dress ready. It’s not the fancy one my mother ordered that cost my father a small fortune, but it is the one I chose to be married in before I left should I find a husband who would take me.”
“I’m happy to take you as my wife, Delly. I’ll warn you, the ladies of the church will want to put on a reception for us.”
“Please tell Pastor Alwin to tell his wife I don’t want that. Tell him…tell him the community has gone to so much work with their harvest dance and all they did for the brides that came this weekend, I feel like we have already had our celebration. Also, I rather we not take a meal at Howard’s until after Mrs. Millard leaves. I’d rather we celebrate with dinner at the River Valley Inn.”
“That sounds agreeable to me. Are you going to have the pastor’s wife stand up for you? Or maybe you would like Clara Howard to.”
“If I was playing by my parents’ rules, I’d ask Winifred Shumaker to. I will say, I do like her quite well. However, I don’t think her husband would care to have her involved, not after what he witnessed at the harvest dance. I think…” Delphinia thought for a moment. “I don’t know if he will agree to it, but I will ask Graham Wardell to stand up for me.”
“Why Mr. Wardell?”
“Because he is the one person in Jubilee Springs who knew me before I came here. He knows my parents. If he writes to my family and to the Sopworth family and tells them he witnessed my marriage, maybe they all will give up and leave me alone.”
“We can only hope.”
Several minutes later the two reached Howard Boarding House. Bennett turned to Delphinia. “Do I get one more kiss goodbye, Delly?”
“I…” Delphinia moistened her lips. “Mr. Nighy, our fishing trip is over. Under the circumstances we have been discussing, a marriage of convenience, I think it best we not.”
Bennett smiled and shook his head.
We’re back to Mr. Nighy again, are we?
Delphinia was caught up in discussing her terms for their business arrangement, but she didn’t realize they had yet to discuss his terms.
“All right, Miss Blakewell. I’ll either look for you here, or, if it’s more comfortable for you considering Mrs. Millard will still be in town, you are welcome to wait in my office in the store. Dr. Adams two doors down has a key and can let you in. I’ll find you when I have the details put together. Until then we can only hope.”
“Hope for what, Mr. Nighy?”
“Hope no one dies. Things get busy for both the pastor and me when there is a funeral to do.”
.
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CHAPTER 25
~o0o~
Delphinia paced back and forth in Bennett’s office, stopping occasionally to finger the paper folders that held his receipts and invoices. Finally she heard a key grate in the front door lock and the bell over the door tinkle. She rushed to meet him in the middle of the showroom. “Did you talk to Pastor Alwin?”
“Yes. I’ve got the wedding scheduled.”
“Will it be before the train from Denver arrives?”
“Yes, but…”
Delphinia sighed in relief. “Oh, good. You know I was dead set on being married today.”
“Speaking of dead…”
Delphinia froze in place and warily stared at Bennett. “Mr. Nighy, I believe there is something you are trying to tell me.”
Bennett sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Delly. I arrived at the church only to have Pastor Alwin tell me Mrs. Hester Smith, a sweet old lady at least in her eighties, passed away this morning. Minna Alwin and some of the ladies from the church are getting organized to go to her house to prepare her for burial. I already went there and took her measurements for a casket.”
Delphinia blinked. “What does that have to do with our wedding?”
“The pastor will be too busy to perform a marriage today. Tomorrow will be the services for Mrs. Smith, and he prefers to not have weddings and funerals on the same day, when possible. The wedding is scheduled for ten o’clock Wednesday.”
Delphinia swallowed. She began to shake all over. She still worried about who might arrive on the train. She was so close. Surely things would not fall apart on her now.
Bennett stepped forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Delly, it will be all right. I will be with you this afternoon. I have the sheriff lined up to be at the station to watch to see if anyone he doesn’t recognize gets off the train. If so, he’ll approach them and try to find out who they are and what their business is in Jubilee Springs. He’ll let us know if we need to be concerned.”
“You…you told him who I am? You told him my father or his men may be coming?”
“No. I told him you are here on a sensitive errand that requires you to be discreet. I think that is how you put it to Pastor Alwin, and I tried to use the same phrasing. I also told him you had received a warning there were parties that objected to your involvement with your sensitive errand, and said parties may pose a threat to you.”
Delphinia smiled with appreciation. “You should be a lawyer, Mr. Nighy.”
“No thank you. I’d rather build china cabinets. Now, I need your help with Mrs. Smith, Delly.”
Delphinia blanched. “I told you, I can’t do dead.”
“I’m not asking you to touch her. And I’ll be with you when you first see her. This time of year the weather is cool enough decomposition happens slower than in the summer, so she’ll still be in good shape tomorrow. However, Mayor Shumaker considers Hester Smith an icon of the community. She came to live with her husband almost twenty years ago when he was still trying to get gold out of the ground, before the laws changed and investors realized mining for silver is more profitable. Anyway, her husband died, leaving her in a one room cabin on a parcel south of Church Street. Two houses have since been built behind hers. Some of the old-time prospectors sort of looked out for her until the Prosperity Mine opened and people started moving into the area.”
“Mr. Nighy, you are making me nervous with all this story-telling. What does our mayor considering her an icon of the community have to do with me seeing her but not touching her?”
Mr. Shumaker wants to allow for a viewing prior to her burial. However, her cabin is not suitable. Since I’m the unofficial mortician, he asked if I could find room in the store tomorrow to hold the viewing. I thought I could clear out a space behind the bedroom set you helped me organize, although I want to make sure it is blocked off from being seen through the front window. The thing is, Delly, I need to be gone part of the day to help dig the grave. I need someone to stay here with the body, to act as a hostess, so to speak, and to speak a few words of c
omfort should someone be overcome with emotion when they view her.”
“And you want me to be that hostess?”
“I know with your background you probably excel at that sort of thing. Plus, someone needs to stay with the body while she’s here, as a matter of respect, if nothing else. Will you help me with that?”
Delphinia swallowed. “We didn’t discuss this in detail when we talked about our business arrangement, but I’ll do my best. I believe I need to visit with the seamstress down the street and see if she has anything in a somber color and style that would be appropriate, maybe black bombazine. My wedding dress is a deep green velvet, but I’d rather not wear it to a funeral one day and be married in it the next.”
Have Mrs. Stowe charge the dress to me. I need to change and go in my work area, Delly. The sooner I can get Mrs. Smith’s casket built, the sooner they can get her settled in it so she’s ready to be brought over tomorrow.” Bennett started towards the stairs. A few steps later, he stopped and turned back. “And, Delly, Mr. Shumaker offered his congratulations on our upcoming nuptials and plans to be there. Evidently Mr. Wardell and he have talked, and as of today, neither seem too concerned about your collection of aliases or if our marriage might cause problems with their banking connections in New York.”
“Then Mr. Wardell knows, too?”
“Yes. I hope you don’t mind, but while I was there, I asked him if he was willing to attend for the reasons you mentioned last night. He thought it wise on your part to suggest it, but felt uncomfortable standing up for you due to his father’s connection to your former fiancé. However, he has agreed to stand up for me. Mrs. Winifred Shumaker is thrilled she has been asked to stand up for you.”
“Then we can only hope, Mr. Nighy. Isn’t that what you say?”
“Hope for what, the future Mrs. Nighy?”
“First, that no one dies between now and Wednesday at noon, because I will inform Pastor Alwin I have him scheduled first. Dead or alive, everyone else will have to wait their turn. Second, my father does not step off the train this afternoon or next Wednesday.”
